The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-09-08


prospect when he should como to the
stake: There was: considerably htir-
rah when we rode into the village, aid
had I not been able to understand q
word Of the dialect, the looks and &C.
tions OF the Indians would have been
sufficient to tell me what fate they in.
tended to. ;mete out to- us. : 6ewell
was placed in one lodge and I in an
other, and the war party were soon
engaged with breakfast. It was not
yet fully daylight when I was pulled
of the horse, and therefore I had
not yet been recognized. Il WAS pref
ty generally known to all the tribes,
and they had named me ""The Long
DEATH" 1got the name by killing
some OF them with rife which knock
ed them over when the supposed
| themselves far beyond range. My
only hope was that no one in the crowd
would be able to identify me, as I had
lately had my hair cut close and my
whiskers entirely removed, but day
light had only come when three war
riors looked IN on me, gave r. start of
surprise, and one of them called at
the top of his voice:
at is the Long Death! We have
got him at last. Here is the white
hunter who has killed so many of
our people"
The cat was out OF the bag, as the
old saying goes, and I stood there and
faced them and knew that was doom:
ed to the most horrible fortunes they
could invent.
They did not keep me long in wait.
ing. The knowledge Of my identity
whetted their savage appetltes, and
while the warriors who captured us
were eating breakfast the rest of the
village were astir with preparations.
The camp wasin bit of valley on the
bank Of Smoky Hill Fork, and two
young trees were cut down, trimmed
to q proper length and then driven in.
to the ground in the centre OF the viii
lage. The one intended for me was
almost in front of my tepee, and l
stoOn at the entrance and saw the
young men drive it into the earth.
More than that, sung out to them
in a steady voice in their own dia-
lect.
"A stake like that to hold The
Long Death! You shall see how he
WILL tear 1T up!'
My words were received with shouts
OF satisfaction. No people on earth
respect courage in man as much as
the Indians. There are no less cruel
to a game man, but his gameness will
shorten his torture. Feeling that my
time had come, and hoping to pro-
woke some of them to shoot or toma-
hawk me, called out the names of
half dozen of the tribe whom l had
sent to the happy hunting grounds.
Some OF the young men fairly raved
to get at ME, but the order OF the chief
was to wait. l boosted that l could
outshoot, outride and outrun their
best men, and offered to fight any
six OF them ii they would turn me
loose, but all this talk only gave them
the more satisfaction in thinking OF the
torture in store for me. On the same
principle that people eat their pie
last, the Indians led Sewell out first.
His condition was such that but lit
tie fun could be anticipated from his
torture. He was large, fine-looking
man, but the result OF his spree and
of his capture was to break him
down. He had no more courage than
a child, and it was pitiful to see him
weep and hear his lamentations. l
begged OF the Indians to let him 60,
stating that he was civilian who had
never injured them, and was so broken
down that he could not live long, and
but for the hot.headed young men in
the tribe l should have got him off.
They urged that he was assist
ing to build the railroad which
was driving the game and the In
dian out OF the country: and that
the white men never spared a warrior
because he was ill. Such talk as this
settled it, and the engineer was led
out, stripped OF his clothing, and tied
securely to the stake. Had l refused
to look on, it would have been taken
as an act of cowardice on my part.
Reading this I stepped outside the
lodge and stood within ten feet of the
stake. Sewell wept and begged while
being made fast, but when they STEP
ped back he suddenly grew calm and
asked of me:
"Taylor, what does this all mean?
What are they going to do with me?''
"They are going to torture you' Mr.
care you prisoner, too?"
eyes, and they will torture me after
finishing YOU"
MY God! but this is awful. have
$500 at the camp. Won't they take
that and release ns?"
replied that if we were worth a million
dollars a piece We could not purchase
our liberty under the circumstances,
and advisedhim to call up all his conr.
age and seek to die like a man. Any
sign OF weakness on his part would
excite contempt and increased torture,
and the better way was to defy them
to do their worst. l believe he tried
his best to brace up, but his nerves
were dreadfully shattered, and after
three or four minutes he began crying
again. This had just the effect I pre-
dicted. Half a hundred boys were
sent off to cut switches, and when
they returned they were told to 20
ahead and applythem to the engineer.
The idea was to whip some courage
into him, but it was q fiat failure.
Almost at the first blow the man
cried out like a woman, and, his feet
not having yet been tied, ne danced
about like a puppet. l called out to
him to kick his tormentors, but he
paid no heed to my voice, and after
a time he stood stock still and let the
boys whip him until blood was drawn
in a score of places. All this time he
cried like q boy four or five years old,
and heard some OF the old warriors
say that he was the most cowardly
white man that they had ever met.
He may have lacked courage, but
always believed his conduct to have
been the result OF his shattered men
tai and physical condition.
After the boys had switched him for
ten minutes they were called off, and
couple OF warriors advanced. with
their muzzle.loading rifles and began
to fire charges of powder into the
poor fellows flesh. Does it hurt?
Well, sir, hell can't be any worse. I've
had dozen charges fired into me, and